Everyone engaged in practical work must investigate conditions
at the lower levels. Such investigation is especially necessary
for those who know theory but do not know the actual conditions,
for otherwise they will not be able to link theory with
practice. Although my assertion, "No investigation no right
to speak", has been ridiculed as "narrow
empiricism", to this day I do not regret having made it; far
from regretting it, I still insist that without investigation
there cannot possibly be any right to speak. There are many people
who "the moment they alight from the official carriage"
make a hullabaloo, spout opinions, criticize this and condemn
that; but, in fact, ten out of ten of them will meet with
failure. For such views or criticisms, which are not based on
thorough investigation, are nothing but ignorant
twaddle. Countless times our Party suffered at the hands of these
"imperial envoys", who rushed here, there and
everywhere. Stalin rightly says "theory becomes purposeless
if it is not connected with revolutionary practice". And he
rightly adds that "practice gropes in the dark if its path is
not illumined by revolutionary theory". Nobody should be
labeled a "narrow empiricist" except the "practical
man" who gropes in the dark and lacks perspective and
foresight.

To take such an attitude is to seek truth
from facts. "Facts" are all the things that exist
objectively, "truth" means their internal relations,
that is, the laws governing them, and "to seek," means
to study. We should proceed from the actual conditions inside and
outside the country, the province, county or district, and derive
from them, as our guide to action, laws that are inherent in them
and not imaginary, that is, we should find the internal relations
of the events occurring around us. And in order to do that we must
rely not on subjective imagination, not on momentary enthusiasm,
not on lifeless books, but on facts that exist objectively; we
must appropriate the material in detail and, guided by the general
principles of Marxism-Leninism, draw correct conclusions from
it.

"Reform Our Study" (May 1941),
Selected Works, Vol. III, pp. 22-23.

To behave like "a
blindfolded man catching sparrows", or "a blind man
groping for fish", to be crude and careless, to indulge in
verbiage, to rest content with a smattering of knowledge - such is
the extremely bad style of work that still exists among many
comrades in our Party, a style utterly opposed to the fundamental
spirit of Marxism-Leninism. Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin have
taught us that it is necessary to study conditions conscientiously
and to proceed from objective reality and not from subjective
wishes; however, many of our comrades act in direct violation of
this truth.

Ibid. p. 18.

You can't
solve a problem? Well, get down and investigate the present facts
and its past history! When you have investigated the problem
thoroughly, you will know how to solve it. Conclusions invariably
come after investigation, and not before. Only a blockhead cudgels
his brains on his own, or together with a group, to "find a
solution" or "evolve an idea" without making any
investigation. It must be stressed that this cannot possibly lead
to any effective solution or any good idea.

Oppose Book Worship (May 1930), 1st pocket ed., and
p. 2.

Investigation may be likened to the long months of
pregnancy, and solving a problem to the day of birth. To
investigate a problem is, indeed, to solve it.

Ibid. p. 3.

[With the Marxist-Leninist
attitude,] a person applies the theory and method of
Marxism-Leninism to the systematic and thorough investigation and
study of the environment. He does not work by enthusiasm alone
but, as Stalin says, combines revolutionary sweep with
practicalness.

"Reform Our Study"
(May 1941), Selected Works, Vol. III, p. 22.

The only way to
know conditions is to make social investigations, to investigate
the conditions of each social class in real life. For those
charged with directing work, the basic method for knowing
conditions is to concentrate on a few cities and villages
according to a plan and, using the fundamental viewpoint of
Marxism, i.e., the method of class analysis, make a number of
thorough investigations.

A fact-finding meeting need not be
large; from three to five or seven or eight people are
enough. Ample time must be allowed and an outline for the
investigation must be prepared; furthermore, one must personally
ask questions, take notes and have discussions with those at the
meeting. Therefore one certainly cannot make an investigation, or
do it well, without zeal, a determination to direct one's eyes
downward and a thirst for knowledge, and without shedding the ugly
mantle of pretentiousness and becoming a willing pupil.

Ibid. p. 12.

A commander's correct
dispositions stem from his correct decisions, his correct
decisions stem from his correct judgements, and his correct
judgements stem from a thorough and necessary reconnaissance and
from pondering on and piecing together the data of various kinds
gathered through reconnaissance. He applies all possible and
necessary methods of reconnaissance, and ponders on the
information gathered about the enemy's situation, discarding the
dross and selecting the essential, eliminating the false and
retaining the true, proceeding from the one to the other and from
the outside to the inside; then, he takes the conditions on his
own side into account, and makes a study of both sides and their
interrelations, thereby forming his judgements, making up his mind
and working out his plans. Such is the complete process of knowing
a situation that a military man goes through before he formulates
a strategic plan, a campaign plan or a battle plan.